There is provided a method for the removal of residual organic swelling agent from pillared layered materials by treating such materials with acid.
The preparation of pillared layered materials is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,831,005 and 4,859,648, the entire disclosures of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. These layered materials include layered silicates, such as magadiite and kenyaite, titanates such as trititanates, perovskite-related materials and vacancy titanometalates. The pillared forms of these layered materials are useful as catalysts, catalyst supports and sorbents.
Layered materials may be pillared by a process including the steps of: (1) swelling the layered material with a swelling agent to separate the layers; (2) treating the swollen layered material with an oxide precursor, such as tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS), capable of forming an oxide upon hydrolysis; and (3) hydrolyzing the oxide precursor. Examples of swelling agents include nitrogen-containing organic compounds, such as tetraalkylammonium compounds and amines, such n-hexylamine and n-octylamine. In order to prepar pillared materials of desired surface area, it is necessary to remove residual swelling agent from the hydrolyzed product of the above-mentioned step (3). As pointed out in the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,831,005 and 4,859,648, this removal of residual swelling agent may take place by calcination of the pillared material.